Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Ann Simmons was born about 1855.
She married Howard Lear, a shoemaker, in 1872 in New Zealand.
They had 10 children, at least one who died in infancy, and lived in Dunedin.
In 1883 Mary applied for a prohibition order 'prohibiting publicans in Dunedin and North-east Valley from supplying H Lear with drink for one year.' Howard 'had been drunk since the races, and was injuring his health in consequence of his excessive drinking' - the order was granted.
Another order was granted in 1893 and when Mary signed the suffrage petition they were living in Opoho.
Howard died in Dunedin in 1907, he is buried in the Northern Cemetery.
Mary died on 8 March 1936 at the Eventide Home in Island Bay, Auckland, she was cremated and her ashes interred in the Karori Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Auckland Council https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/cemeteries